Ed Clark’s threat to The Beer Store: “If you really think this thing is valueless, then give it up…”

“If you really think this thing is valueless, then give it up and we will auction it off and see if people will pay something for it.”

—Ed Clark, former TD Bank chair and head of premier Kathleen Wynne’s advisory panel on government assets, speaking to reporters about The Beer Store’s claim that it can’t afford to pay an additional “franchise fee” to the provincial government—as recommended by the panel in a recent study—without upping prices for consumers. (By “this thing,” Clark means the Beer Store’s quasi-monopoly on beer sales in Ontario.) Wynne has previously said that she is “absolutely willing” to act on the asset panel’s recommendations. How the government would actually prevent the Beer Store from passing specific costs on to consumers isn’t clear.